Overcoming Critical Challenges in Mobile Game Testing

Arpita Goala , Content Marketing Manager

February 2nd, 2024

Mobile game testers must consider several aspects when delivering flawless user experiences. Since customers often play across several devices and platforms, consistent experiences aren’t just necessary, they are an expectation. This is what makes mobile game testing different from mobile app testing. 

Unlike typical apps, mobile game testing is less repeatable and regimented. Unscripted user actions, born out of individual player habits, introduce an element of unpredictability. Development teams must dive deep into game elements, including character movement, interactions, game mechanics, and level progression, to ensure flawless gameplay. As a result, mobile game testing has several unique and critical challenges that teams must overcome.

4 Mobile Game Testing Challenges

In this blog, we’ll cover some key challenges mobile game testing teams face and how to overcome them.

Failed Payment Transactions 

Payment testing is a crucial aspect of any business, and mobile games are no exception. Failed payment transactions can hurt your revenue growth and your users’ experience. If your customers face issues during a transaction, they are more likely to abandon the purchase entirely.

Payment flows for mobile games can be particularly challenging because a single game may have multiple monetization models. As a result, quality assurance (QA) teams must evaluate numerous possible scenarios to ensure seamless gameplay across in-app purchases, subscriptions, and freemium options.

Moreover, mobile games accept payments through various payment methods, gateways, and third-party integrations. Testing all possible combinations of payment options is a daunting task, especially when considering device types, regional currencies, app store policies, and local regulations. For in-house development teams, executing comprehensive payment testing across these variables can be challenging without the help of crowdsourced testing partners. 

The solution:
To avoid payment failures, test the entire payment process thoroughly. This includes purchasing virtual items, subscriptions, and in-app purchases. We recommend testing with real transactions across different payment methods, third-party processors, and gateways. Lastly, verify that payments are processed correctly in different currencies and comply with payment regulations in different regions.

Ineffective Localization

Effective mobile game localization testing goes beyond translating content into different languages. Product teams must consider linguistic and structural variations to avoid poorly translated UI elements and layout issues. Often, untested translations may cause text to overlap or overflow. These problems can have a direct impact on both the aesthetic appeal and functional integrity of a game.

Since users worldwide use different carriers, networks, and devices, testing across various networks and OS/device combinations is essential. Fluctuations in network signal strength and inconsistent performance across platforms can affect asset load times and responsiveness. Mobile game testers must perform location testing with real devices to capture real-world scenarios. However, that’s challenging and expensive unless you have a QA team in every region. 

In addition, incorrect localization can result in errors in currency formats, symbols, or numeric representations, which can impact financial transactions. This makes proper localization of mobile games a strategic necessity. 

The solution:

Verifying the accuracy of language translations is essential to achieve successful localization. This includes ensuring text and audio elements are adequately localized for the target audience. It is also necessary to check if the game has region-specific gameplay elements that align with local preferences and regulations. Additionally, conducting location testing with real users and devices in the intended regions can help ensure optimal results. 

Unintended Consequences of New Features

Mobile game development and continuous improvements must go hand-in-hand as customers expect new features and functionalities at lightning speeds. However, each update or feature release can bring new bugs or break existing functionalities. This is challenging for agile QA teams, who balance thorough testing with timely releases while ensuring a bug-free user experience. 

It’s worth noting that some users may not update to the latest version immediately, resulting in multiple versions of the game being in use simultaneously. If updates include changes in device compatibility or support for new operating system versions, not enabling backward compatibility can frustrate users with older devices, primarily if they’ve invested hours progressing through the game. 

The solution: 

After each update, verify that all gameplay features and mechanics work as intended, including power-ups, scoring systems, and interactive elements. Introduce regression testing to ensure new features do not negatively impact the game’s performance or user experience. You can also complete a min specs check across devices to ensure smooth gameplay on minimum requirements. Finally, consider automating regression tests for stable and frequently used features to ensure your app’s core functionality is never compromised. 

Data-related issues

Data-related issues can pose significant challenges in mobile game testing because of the dynamic nature of games and the diverse ways users interact with them. Since players generate a wide range of inputs, such as several usernames, scores, and types of content, validating the accuracy of user inputs and data can be difficult. Mobile games’ real-time and interactive nature further complicates data handling, particularly in multiplayer or online games where scores and in-app purchases must sync seamlessly across diverse network conditions.

It is crucial to test all gameplay elements of a game on various devices with different specifications, screen sizes, and operating systems to ensure that the game’s database functions reliably. However, with thousands of device makes, models, and OS combinations to consider, accurate in-house data testing is almost impossible. 

Additionally, since mobile games often rely on server communication for various features, testing these interactions for performance and scalability becomes challenging as the user base grows.

The solution:
To ensure accurate data testing, test across diverse real devices, platforms, and network conditions, focusing on database functions and responsiveness. Ensure you check server integrations to verify that player scores and in-app purchases update promptly. Finally, assess the game’s responsiveness to user inputs and ensure gameplay elements function seamlessly. 

Effectively Overcome Mobile Game Testing Challenges

In mobile game testing scenarios, unique user behaviors make it challenging to perform repeatable testing. This makes manual testing of gameplay elements critical to ensure success. Manual testing can capture nuanced user gestures such as swipes, taps, and multi-touch interactions, essential for evaluating the player experience. 

An in-house QA team may not have the capacity to perform accurate real-world testing across the globe. That’s why partnering with a provider that offers crowdsourced manual testing is vital for mobile game QA teams to keep up with fast development timelines while ensuring high quality. 

At Testlio, our comprehensive solutions can help teams maximize coverage by leveraging a global talent pool across 150+ countries, 100+ languages, 500K+ devices, and 400+ payment methods. Schedule a call with us today to see how we can take your QA efforts to the next level!